The Boise State basketball team is on an extended break from playing games — and that’s just fine with coach Leon Rice.

The Broncos (10-5) have not played since a Jan. 2 loss at Fresno State and will not hit the hardwood until Saturday afternoon against Air Force — the program’s first Mountain West league game.

The unusual in-season gap has provided Rice and his young team with a chance to go back to fundamentals — and get healthy in the middle of a long season.

“It’s given us a chance in a mini-camp setting,” Rice said Monday. “I don’t know if I’d want to do this with a real veteran team, but it’s turned out that it was really valuable.”

With just eight teams in the Mountain West, the league is among the last to begin conference play. The Great West is the only other league that has not yet played conference games.

The scheduling quirk made it hard for Boise State to find a game. The Broncos played 15 games in 57 days, putting them in a play-prep schedule and leaving little time for fundamental work.

They’ve gotten plenty during the break. The Broncos have focused on player development, including individual practice sessions in the afternoon after morning team sessions.

“We’re doing things with this team that I can’t believe we haven’t spent more time doing,” Rice said.

The rest has also been welcomed. Freshman guard Anthony Drmic, the team’s leading scorer, is battling an ankle injury that forced him to miss the loss at Iowa. He played in the past two games, but has used the time off to get some much-needed rest.

“He needed some time to get back to speed,” Rice said. “If we had to go to another game, he would have continued to play and it might have been a problem all season. Given this time, he was able to get a handle on it and he should be good to go.”

Drmic, who is averaging 14.4 points a game, is expected to play against Air Force.